Thank you, Lisa for wanting me to have this & knowing me so well that you knew I would love it. And thank you, Victoria, for being so very talented & willing to spend the little "free" time that you have creating this masterpiece.

I wanted to show you what my friend, Leigh, gave me a couple of weeks ago. It is Christmas wall art {I think that's what you call it} that portrays the 12 Days of Christmas song. I love it! It goes perfectly in my home. She always knows exactly what I will like.

Isn't it so beautiful? I love the artwork. Each square portrays a different day from the 12 Days of Christmas. I think it would be so fun to set a 12 Days of Christmas themed tree next to it. Have I told you that I love theme trees? I love a lot of things, don't I?

Ms. Sassypants likes to stand in front of it & sing the song. {Don't tell her I told you. She would be so embarrassed.}

Next year I will find a better spot for it & dress it up with some pine boughs & maybe even get that tree.

Thanks so much, Leigh, for being so darn thoughtful. You continually amaze me with all that you accomplish. I have know idea how you are able to get everything done that you have to do & still have time to do the little extra things that you do for others. You truly are amazing.

December 18, 2008

All of the rain yesterday made for a beautiful morning. I love to see snow on our little mountain here in So. California. It only happens, maybe, once a year so, it's a big deal to us. My kids were so hoping it would snow down on us too. It sure felt cold enough but, no such luck. And this morning was bright & sunny.

I've been busy preparing neighbor & teacher gifts. I made these mini cookies out of Spritz cookie dough & put them in some mason jars that I had. Recycle, reuse right? The cookies are so yummy! So much so that out of the 8 jars I made, I only have 5 left. Hmm...I've got to get them delivered before hubby cracks open another one.

Tomorrow is the last day of school for a few weeks. Yay! I just about finished my shopping today. And thank goodness because it is crazy out there!

What ideas did you come up with for your teachers & neighbors this year?

December 16, 2008

Kimba over at A Soft Place to Land is having a Holiday Open House today & I thought I would join in the fun.

Welcome to my home!

The first thing you see when you walk in the door is my fun snowman. I've had him for quite a few years now. He is about the same heighth as my almost 3 year old, Boo. She loves to stand in front of him & look him in the eyes & then pull on his nose. In fact, all of my kids did that. It's amazing that nose is still there.

Don't you love his long sweater?

Every year I get a new Christmas book. I like to display them on my stairs & it's easy for the kids to grab them when they want to read.

This tree is new this year. I'd been dreaming up a "game" themed tree to put here, in the room where our pool table is, & when I found this set of billiard ball ornaments at Target for $9.99 I was so excited. I found a good deal on this tree at JoAnns. {I'm kicking myself for not getting two. I went back but, they were gone. I need one for my Wizard of Oz theme tree.} I got the dice ornaments at Roger's Gardens. They were a bit more expensive so it's a good thing this is a small & skinny tree.

Here is my snowman collection. I didn't consciously start collecting snowman but, last year I realized I had so many that I had a collection. Apparently, I'm a little bit partial snowmen.

A little side table in the living room. Yes, the rosemary tree is real. With my non-green thumb skills, I'm sure it will be dead very soon.

Here is one of my favorite Christmas decorations. My friend had one of these in her home & I fell in love with it. It is only half way completed because it is way out of my price range. I splurged about 3 years ago & ordered the metal tree part for myself for Mother's Day. It was on sale but still expensive. 2 years ago I started buying the crystals from ebay & wherever I could find them. This year I ordered two sets of the ornament frames. They are darn expensive! But I figure I can add a few frames here & there & just keep adding.

I love it! And even though it's pricey, I know I will love it & keep it for a very long time.

The reason for the season...

Here's the cute little rug at the bottom of our stairs.

This is looking towards the family room. I love that wreath hanging on the door. I tend to like very simple, natural looking wreaths.

I bought this shelf this summer just so I could hang the stockings here. We don't have a fireplace so I needed to think of something else. The shelf that used to be here was not as deep & didn't have hooks. I found this one at HomeGoods but the hooks that came on it only had 1 hook each so, I switched them out for 2 hook hooks. That sounds goofy doesn't it. I'm sorry if that is confusing. Anyway, I love it & I especially love the Santa. He is the Santa that I grew up with. One year I was visiting my mom & she was going through some of her Christmas stuff & she almost threw him away! Can you believe that?!! I saved him & feel very lucky to be able to display him every year.

The swag hanging on the laundry room door.

A little bit of Christmas cheer in the bathroom.

My sister painted this little music box. I adore it! Santa & his reindeer go around to the music "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". The kids can't keep themselves from turning it whenever they get a chance.

This is our advent calendar. There's a little note in each door with an activity or question.

Here is my Grandpa's hutch. It is very hard to get a picture of it because of the glass doors. Does anyone have suggestions for that? Anyway, this is the best I could do. The ornaments are vintage & were my Grandma's. I sooooo wish I had more of them. I love, love, love them. I guess I'm a little nutty about family heirlooms. Anything that belonged to my grandparents or from my childhood I just go nuts over. There are so many great memories that belong to these things & I cherish every little piece that I have.

Be good for goodness sake!

Love this berry ball that hangs from the chandelier. Simple but lovely.

Our cute caroling family that sits on the kitchen counter.

The nativity that the little ones get to play with. I've had this for about 7 years & not one piece is missing yet. That is a Christmas miracle.

I put this up on the kids' behalf...

And to end this very long tour {so sorry} here is our family tree filled with our crazy & fun family ornaments.

I hope you enjoyed the tour. I'm excited to see everyone else's Holiday Home Tours & that's what I'm going to do right now!

December 15, 2008

Good Monday Morning! It is absolutely pouring here today! It is finally feeling like winter here in So Cal. Last week I mentioned a Christmas dinner for the ladies at church. Here are the centerpieces that I made for it.

They have that natural Christmas feel that I love. Some fake snow in the bottom, a mini pine wreath with a cardinal & nest. The best thing is that JoAnns is having great sales on everything so, these didn't cost very much.

I had to get them to the party safely, so this is what I came up with. My hubby laughed at me but, it worked perfectly. They arrived safe & sound.

Now onto the winner of my giveaway! I let Boo pick the winner out of a bowl & Ms. Sassypants stood by as a witness. And the winner is...drumroll, please...

The George's! Congrats & you will be receiving your package very soon. Thanks to everybody that entered the giveaway! You all made me feel good that there are people out there that actually read this thing.

December 11, 2008

No way! Is it really my 100th post? I can't believe it. This blogging thing has been so much fun for me. And to celebrate I thought it would be fun to have my first giveaway! So here we go...

Included is the Christmas coasters that I made from a previous post, a fun Candy Cane sign, a Jennifer Murphy snowman ornament & the Gooseberry Patch's 10th anniversary Christmas book. Just leave a comment on this post to be entered & I will pick the winner on Monday morning. Merry Christmas!

December 8, 2008

Oh my goodness! It feels like I've been gone for so long...and I didn't even get to go anywhere. Just busy, busy, busy. I am in charge of a Christmas dinner for the ladies at my church. We are planning for about 45 women this year. I have a great committee that has been very helpful & I think everything will turn out alright. I just finished tying the ribbons onto the little gift that we will be giving out this year. Whew! Glad to have that done. I thought I'd share a few pictures of our family Christmas tree. It is, definately, not fancy but my kids love it! Of course they do...it's stuffed with all of their ornaments!

I told you, stuffffffed with ornaments! Where did they all come from? Well, I started the tradition of buying each of my kids an ornament every year plus, they have made quite a few at school plus, I was in an ornament exchange on both sides of my family for a few years which meant I brought home about 20 new ornaments every year! I have so many ornaments that I can't fit them all onto the tree! I hate to get rid of any though. What to do?

We could play I Spy. I spy a pair of red mittons, Shrek & Donkee, Wizard of Oz, a caroler & Dora...

This year I let the kids put all of the ornaments on the tree by themselves & am trying with all my might not to move any of them around. They are so proud of it.

I have really missed reading your blogs & will, probably, be up until 2am catching up on them!

December 2, 2008

I would love to have a huge front porch with steps going up & a rail but, instead I have this itty bitty front porch, with no steps & no rail. That's okay. I decided I need to embrace my itty bitty porch & fix it up a little. In a recent post I mentioned that I would love to have a chair out there so I pulled one from a set I have in the backyard but, it eventually, needed to go back with it's matching family. Fortunately, I got so lucky & a friend of mine gave me an old chair of hers...for FREE! Yay! I love free.

So, of course, I had to spray paint it & add a little Christmas cheer...

What do you think? The huge poinsettia plants are from Costco. I love the bright splash of color since my house sits way back from the street.

I added a little red corduroy pillow with an embroidered one in front. I know the red one will fade in the sun but, there is a huge hole in the back {of course my kids have no idea how it got there} & it is pretty much falling apart so, I figured what the heck.

Welcome to Right at Home. We are all sisters {and Mom}! We live in different cities & states. We all have our own unique talents & interests, but we are bound by a love of our families & each other. We enjoy being creative & are constantly coming across new ideas & interesting projects. This blog is a place for us to come & share the inspirations & ideas that help us enhance our homes & families. We hope you feel right at home...